1503_2107 Leave The Lights On
I'm on the road but I brought along a suitable shot for Halloween. Dolls, like clowns, can be scary...
I shot this a few years ago in the Purgatory Garden of my late friend, metal sculptor Jan Johnson. His collection of dolls - found objects and donations from his many friends as their kids aged out of childhood - was unsettling to some. Most of them were in the woods surrounding his house: peering up from amid the mosses and ferns; gazing down from tree limbs; nestled in old tattered baby carriages; gleefully riding rusted toy cars. Here and there, a head on a platter or spike. Or in an old shoe, like this one.
Responses from visitors ranged from "I don't like this place" to "Oh, wow! Art everywhere!" I was in the latter camp. You have to dig black humour and social commentary to understand Jan. Whereas some people see only the darkness, others see Jan holding up a mirror to it, unafraid, in fact taking delight in the view. Artists are here to show others what they might be missing, and it doesn't have to be pretty. If it shakes us out of complacency and makes us feel... something... then art has been worth the effort of creating it.
I don't want to seem too serious about all this. Jan's work - even his serious work - was often playful. I can hear his laugh in the background: hee hee hee...
Happy Halloween!
Photographed at Jan Johnson's Purgatory Garden in Sooke, BC (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2015 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
1503_2107 Leave The Lights On
I'm on the road but I brought along a suitable shot for Halloween. Dolls, like clowns, can be scary...
I shot this a few years ago in the Purgatory Garden of my late friend, metal sculptor Jan Johnson. His collection of dolls - found objects and donations from his many friends as their kids aged out of childhood - was unsettling to some. Most of them were in the woods surrounding his house: peering up from amid the mosses and ferns; gazing down from tree limbs; nestled in old tattered baby carriages; gleefully riding rusted toy cars. Here and there, a head on a platter or spike. Or in an old shoe, like this one.
Responses from visitors ranged from "I don't like this place" to "Oh, wow! Art everywhere!" I was in the latter camp. You have to dig black humour and social commentary to understand Jan. Whereas some people see only the darkness, others see Jan holding up a mirror to it, unafraid, in fact taking delight in the view. Artists are here to show others what they might be missing, and it doesn't have to be pretty. If it shakes us out of complacency and makes us feel... something... then art has been worth the effort of creating it.
I don't want to seem too serious about all this. Jan's work - even his serious work - was often playful. I can hear his laugh in the background: hee hee hee...
Happy Halloween!
Photographed at Jan Johnson's Purgatory Garden in Sooke, BC (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2015 James R. Page - all rights reserved.